Hayley's Comet
by demi-shadow-tribute
Summary: Hayley promised her fifth year at Hogwarts was going to be kick-ass. She had her friends, Quidditch and magic. What could go wrong? Unless you threw her arch-enemy James Potter into the mix. Then the fun starts.
1. Chapter 1

"Bye Mum!" I pulled her into a long hug. She kissed the top of my head and squeezed my arms. Going back to Hogwarts was my favorite part of the year but I always hated saying goodbye to Mum.

"Hayley!" I heard a deep voice call behind me and I spotted Al and Louis grinning down at me. Did I mention that I hate being small? But on the plus side I can pull off heels, not that I even wore them but hey I'm trying to be optimistic here.

"Hey guys" I smiled. I had seen them both this summer when I stayed with Roxanne but it still felt like ages. They enveloped me in a hug and I felt the air being squeezed out of my lungs, "Okay, okay enough!" I choked out. They laughed but released me from their death grip.

"Hello Albus, hello Louis, how are you both doing?" my Mother smiled at them. I'm an only child so it's just me and her but despite being a muggle my Mum has adopted all of my friends. She adores Al and Louis especially. Suck-ups the both of them.

"Mrs Collins!" they cried again even more enthusiastically. Great even my friends love my mum more than me but I can't blame them, she's amazing. Mum and I seemed to have been sucked into the whole Weasley- Potter clan. They have adopted us into their family. We even both get Weasley jumpers with our initials on them at Christmas.

"You lot better get on the train or you'll miss it" she smiled. I pulled her into one more hug.

"We'll see you at Christmas won't we Mrs Collins?" asked Louis. Once Grandma Weasley had found out that Mum and I had no other family she demanded we always spend Christmas at the Burrow. She loves Mum's pies so it was a win-win for her I suppose.

"Of course boys" she said lovingly and kissed their cheeks. I rolled my eyes impatiently.

"Come on lovebirds" I grabbed their hands and pulled them towards the train.

We found an empty compartment and settled inside. Eventually we were joined by Skye and Roxanne, my best friends.

"I didn't get to see your Mum" Roxanne huffed. See what I mean about them loving her more?

"There you lot are" cried Ethan Wood sitting down between me and Roxanne throwing an arm around her. Ethan is Skye's twin who also happens to be dating Roxanne. The two immediately started snogging like there was no tomorrow.

"Revolting!" shouted Skye " Do you not care that I your sister am right here watching as you stick your tongue down my best friend's throat!"

They decided to ignore her and simply continued. We had spent ages last year trying to get the two of them together and eventually they kissed at the Yule Ball. Louis and I liked to think of ourselves as master matchmakers.

Skye shook her head disgustedly and her short golden curls bounced around. Skye was one of the happiest people ever. She never hurt anyone and was always smiling. I always enjoy the train rides back. I always have fun with my friends. Roxanne and Ethan even stopped snogging long enough to play would you rather.

However at that moment in time the bane of my existence decided to enter the compartment, James bloody Potter. My sworn enemy. James was an arrogant, disgusting toe rag. I don't know how him and Al are related, Al's so sweet. I mean James could be okay, he could actually be quite fun when we wasn't too busy being Hogwarts biggest fuckboy(my favorite muggle word) or making it his life's mission to annoy me, but I would never admit it to him. His best friend Fred Weasley, Roxanne's brother, followed him in. Fred was actually really nice he even hung out with me and Roxanne over the summer. He wasn't cocky like James.

"You might not want to go out into the hall" James smirked, Oh boy did I hate it when people smirked,"we swapped some puking pastilles with fruit gums on the trolley. There are people throwing up everywhere".

"That's disgusting!" Skye cried. I, unfortunately, have a bit of a mean sense of humor (please don't hate me) and I let out a laugh. My friends glared at me.

"I'm sorry" I cried "I can't help it". I tried to hold back the laugh. Fred grinned at me. Unfortunately the only people who understand this terrible affliction are Fred and James.

"See! Even Hayley finds it funny."

"I don't want to but I do" I complained "Will they stop?"

"Oh yes these only last 10 minutes" James said as he sat down and threw his arm around me that I immediately shook off.

"But that's 10 minutes of hell!" cried Al indignantly

"Chill baby bro, it's not that bad" James smirked (again really!).

"So you how do you think the cup will go this year?" Fred cut in trying to avoid a big war between brothers.

I was one of the chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, along with Skye. Her Dad was Oliver Wood, Quidditch legend. Ethan didn't play though, much to his family's dismay but he was never one to follow the rules. Skye's older brother, Ashton was the captain and in his final year at Hogwarts. He was the Keeper. James was the seeker and Fred and Roxanne were beaters. Thankfully our team only needed one replacement chaser.

"I think we definitely have a shot at winning" Skye inputted. For someone so nice and jolly, she sure could be aggressive out on the field. She was just as dedicated to Quidditch as her father supposedly was. I had heard lots of stories about him from Harry, George and Angelina. The rest of the train ride was spent chatting about Quidditch.

Finally we pulled into the station at Hogsmeade. We were finally here and Fifth year was going to be awesome, despite the fact that it was OWL Year but I didn't let that bother me. I wanted to play professional Quidditch anyway.

We climbed into the carriage and headed up to the castle. The sorting ceremony was tediously long and I could feel my stomach growling, thank god people were clapping and no one could hear. That always happens to me in class (typical Hayley awkwardness).

Finally it was over and the feast began. I love to eat. Sometimes I wonder how I'm not the size of a car by now but oh well. Life's too short, am I right? The food was incredible; the House Elves had really outdone themselves. But I was glad when it was finally time to go to bed. I was glad I wasn't a prefect, having to look after all the first years. I watched as Rose Weasley tried desperately to round them up while they kept wandering off. Seth Creevey, the other fifth year prefect, looked like he was about to break something.

Roxanne, Skye and I all headed up to the dormitory. Despite being deathly tired, we all decided to stay up with Rose Weasley and Emma Longbottom, the other fifth year girls and talked well into the morning. The floor was a jumble of pillows, blankets and bodies. I fell asleep with a smile on my face. I was back.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I started writing this story when Hayley was in first year and I uploaded one chapter. But I decided that I wanted to skip ahead because I thought that writing about their earlier years** **would be too boring for readers. So here it is, the new first chapter of Hayley's Comet, my first ever story. I really hope you guys like it. Please comment what you think, constructive criticism is definitely appreciated! I'm sorry this chapter is so short but this was just sort of introducing the characters.**

 **Bye!**

 **Jessica.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Aaaaarrrgghh!" I screamed when I woke up the next morning. I know, I'm a morning person. The sun blinded me as it shone through the curtains. I rubbed my eyes and tried to get them to adjust. Weird, none of the girls were here. I checked the time.

"SHIT!" I yelped. I had three minutes until class. I grabbed my books from the floor and sprinted down the stairs and through the common room. There were a few sixth and seventh years with free periods and I got some very weird looks. I don't blame them. I was wearing a My Little Pony fluffy, footie onesie, my hair looked like it belonged in a tree and there was red marks on my face from sleeping in a weird position all night. But I ignored them and sprinted through the hallways. Unfortunately, it was at this blessed moment in time that James bloody Potter decided to make an appearance. I turned the corner and ran straight into him.

"Shi...ugar" I said as I picked myself up from the floor. I was trying not to swear so much but lets just say it wasn't working.

"What the... Collins?" James said taking in my bedraggled appearance and then the idiot laughed. Yes he laughed! This was not funny! Granted had it been anyone else in this situation I would have been in fits of laughter, but still!

"Shut up Potter it's not funny! I'm late!" I charged past him and finally I made it to the dungeons, potions ugh.

I burst in through the door "Sorry I'm late professor. First day and all." I said smiling brightly. I was proud of my dedication to my studies, I mean, I came in my pajamas!

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone stared at me in shock and then the whole class erupted into peels of laughter. People fell off chairs clutching their stomach and tears ran down peoples faces. I however turned a very attractive shade of red. Another fine example of typical Hayley awkwardness. Classy Hayley, real classy. Then in the corner I spotted the administrator of this terrible wrongdoing, Roxanne Weasley.

No doubt the only one of the girls cruel and clever to pull such a prank. Merlin, that girl should have been in Slytherin. My eyes narrowed at her. Revenge is a dish best served by Hayley Collins.

Professor Pritchett, on the other hand, looked livid "MS COLLINS! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING. NO UNIFORM, LATE AND YOU LOOK LIKE A HOMELESS PERSON! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!"

I winced and took a step back, sure that steam was going to come out of his ears at any moment like in a muggle cartoon. " But Professor I just slept in! I ran here! You should be impressed with my dedication to potions."

Unfortunately this was not the right thing to say.

"DETENTION!" he shouted "Get out of my sight and make yourself presentable" and with that he swiveled around and attempted to calm the class.

I sighed and ambled out the door. Detention the first day back, I was in sooo much trouble. I slowly made my way back to Gryffindor Tower. Thank Merlin it was the Hufflepuffs in there. We have to look on the bright side here. I walked through the common room, receiving quite a few wolf-whistles too. All-in-all, not a great start to a kick-ass year.

By lunchtime I was the talk of the castle. The crazy zombie girl in pajamas. Merlin, I'd never get a date to the Yule Ball now. Chris Evans, extraordinarily hot sixth year Ravenclaw captain, would never ask me out now. By the way I don't _fancy_ Chris, I just happen to appreciate a God when I see one.

"Oh my Godric, Hayley your face... Your hair... Your pajamas..."

The comments went on and on. I wanted to drown myself in my delicious bowl of tomato soup. But then I saw the devil herself, Roxanne. She sat down across from me and smirked. That was it, I've had it with smirking.

"Bloody Hell Roxanne!" I wailed "You landed me in detention"

She just laughed at my pain.

"It was funny, Hayley! I'm sorry about your detention but that was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" and once again set off into peels of laughter.

I huffed and crossed my arms defensively. "What I'd like to know is why you guys went along with it!" I said looking around at Skye, Rose and Emma. Trying my best to look hurt and upset. And it worked, all three of them looked thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

"We're so sorry, Hayley!" they cried "Roxanne forced us!"

I smiled (internally) I had gotten exactly what I wanted. Roxanne rolled her eyes. She knew my guilt tripping tactics. I decided to forgive them and we continued eating and chatting. I still had one more ting I had to do though. Revenge plot would be put in place tonight.

"Hey there pajama girl" I heard an annoying voice to my right "I must say you were looking particularly sexy lying on the floor"

"Shut up James" I growled. I was really not in the mood for him right now. "Just leave me alone"

"I couldn't borrow them could I? Well I suppose you are far too small anyway. They were probably made for a five year old"

That was it. I could not stand people making fun of my height. I know, I know it seems petty but it was like the trigger that James pulled every time. Plus I was having a really bad day. I snapped. I lunged at him knocking him over but before I could hit him I felt myself being lifted up by a strong pair of hands. Well I don't weigh that much anyway but still. The hands pulled me away and set me down.

"Louis! Let me go!" I squirmed and wriggled trying to get free but I didn't want to hurt him so I stopped and sighed.

"Fine! I'll stop!" I stormed out of the hall, dramatic I know i really wasn't helping the whole crazy thing, followed by Louis.

"James bloody Potter... I'll show him... Asshole" I muttered under my breath.

"Hayley, calm down. I know its been a bad day but there's no point getting in any more trouble" He said soothingly. Bloody Louis, right as usual.

"I know, I know" I sighed. He gave me a quick hug.

"Come on time for transfiguration" he said.

Tonight was the night. Initiating revenge plan. It was cruel, I even felt a little bad but It wasn't permanent. Thankfully Roxanne slept deeply, and on her back. So slowly and quietly... I shaved off her eyebrows. This was a big deal for Roxanne, she always liked to look her best. I know what your saying "Can't she just magic them back?" Perhaps. But there was no way she could do it herself and there was no way she would let anyone see. Maybe not even Madam Pomfrey.

Yet again I fell asleep smiling. Revenge was sweet.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh! Nooooooo!" someone screeched.

I fell out of bed and the other girls moaned.

"My eyebrows!" Roxanne yelped "Hayley! Why, why, why?"

One look at her face and we all burst out laughing. Have you ever seen anyone with no eyebrows? Because it looks hilarious.

"I'm so sorry Roxy" I said between laughing "But I had to pay you back somehow"

"What am I supposed to do though!" she moaned "They're gone!"

Rose recovered from her laughter at this point "Come on lets go to Madam Pomfrey". They hurried off so they could be back in time for class.

"Priceless!" Skye said wiping tears from her eyes.

"I feel a bit bad about it" I bit my lip.

"Nah she'll be fine don't worry" she reassured me, smiling.

"I guess this is a good time to say that I got a picture then" Emma said from the corner.

"No! Did you really?" Skye screamed.

"Album!" we said in unison.

Emma is really into photography so ever since first year whenever we get a good picture we put it in a photo-album as a memory. We all agreed that in seventh year we would make five copies of the album so we could all keep it to remember Hogwarts. Roxy's eyebroweless moment was so going in there.

"Shame we didn't get a picture of you yesterday, though" Skye grinned.

"Well I for one am glad" I said relieved.

Roxy and Rose came back eventually. Once she had gotten her eyebrows back she really did see the funny side.

"There's my evil genius!" she said pulling me into a hug. We both agreed not to wage a prank war. Too much pain.

Me and Skye decided to go down for breakfast. Unfortunately my incident yesterday was still big news and I received a lot of stares but hey looking on the bright side, you could almost call this popularity. Chris Evans would totally know who I was now. We sat down beside Fred and James(unfortunately).

"Did you really shave off Roxy's eyebrows?" Fred asked in disbelief.

"Well yeah I suppose" I said nervously "How do you know?"

"I met her in the common room" He said shoving a load of food in his mouth, attractive.

"That's bloody brilliant Collins" James said high-fiving me across the table.

"Thanks Potter" I grinned.

That was basically mine and James' relationship. Fight, forget about it and then joke around. Repeat again. Unfortunately James' girl of the week decided that this was the moment to come over and start snogging him so our momentary truce was forgotten.

"Not at the bloody table mate I'm eating" Fred moaned.

"Yes please take this session of tonsil tennis elsewhere Potter" I groaned as well.

His blonde bimbo separated herself from him and glared at me.

"Come on Jamesie" she pouted and pulled him out of the hall.

"Bye Jamesie!" I called after them.

"Finally I can eat" Fred cried and stuffed a load more food in his mouth.

We all laughed. Merlin, it was good to be back.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you so much for reading. I know this is another short chapter but I think enough happened in it. Please comment!**


	3. Chapter 3

Finally Friday arrived. Louis and I were doing our potions essay in the common room. Well Louis was doing it I was singing to myself. Probably why everyone else had vacated the area. Assholes.

"Hayley!". I turned around and saw Ashton Wood coming over.

"Oh hey Ashton, what's up" I tried to say as casually as possible. Ashton is, unfortunately, extremely good looking. A fact that Skye did not appreciate me telling her. It made concentrating during Quidditch practice quite difficult. Don't judge, I am a hormonal teenage girl, life is tough.

"I scheduled tryouts for tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock. We only need a chaser though so it is really important that you and Skye are there." he said

Well there went my plan to sleep all day. "WHAT" I yelled waving my arms in the air. Wow I really was so ladylike. "Are you crazy! That's like a crime to get up so early!". I threw myself onto the sofa dramatically "Will I ever get any sleep" I moaned.

"I did it on purpose so only the most dedicated would show up!" he said exasperated at my outburst "You better be there Collins".

Merlin that boy was dedicated to Quidditch. Harry, yes the Harry Potter, had told us about his father's, Oliver Wood, crazy practices. We can only hope that Skye is never captain.

"Louis!" I wailed in agony "Is there no end to these early mornings?"

He laughed at me "I'm just glad I don't play Quidditch. How do you stay on those sticks so long?"

"They are called brooms you evil being! And I enjoy flying" I replied feeling quite offended. Sticks indeed.

Thankfully Roxy and Skye came over to join us before I strangled Louis. Usually, Friday night was when we all hung out in the common room and talked. Around 11 o'clock I found myself getting sleepy. That's what these early mornings do to you.

* * *

I woke up feeling disorientated. This wasn't my bed, where the hell was I? I turned over and fell onto the ground. I was in the bloody common room. I must have fallen asleep last night. The common room was empty except for a first year boy who was staring at me.

"What is it?" I groaned. Yep I hated mornings.

"Y...Y...You're b...blue!" he stuttered. Sure enough I looked down at myself and I was bright blue all over. I looked like a Smurf. A very enjoyable muggle film if I might add.

This had James written all over it. I let out a sort of feral snarl. The first year looked alarmed and backed away from me. I stormed towards the boys dormitories, took one last breath of clean, non boy polluted air, and charged up the stairs until I found the sixth year boy's dormitory. I slammed the door open

"POTTER YOU BLOODY ASSHOLE!" I yelled. I saw his unmistakable mess of black hair stirring in one of the beds. I leaped on top of him and proceeded to punch every inch of him I could find.

"WHY AM I BLUE! CHANGE ME BACK IMMEDIATELY" I screamed.

I heard mumbles and groans coming from the other beds. I saw Fred laughing at me.

"This is not funny!" I wailed "Change me back!" I continued to whack James.

"There's no way I'm turning you back if you keep hitting me!" I heard him yelp from beneath me.

"Fine" I said and jumped off "Now will you?"

"Nope" he smirked.

This called for drastic measures. I couldn't hit him. One of his mates would just restrain me. I decided it was time to tap into my inner Slytherin, manipulation. So I started to cry.

"Please James" I gulped, feeling the tears pour down my face. Merlin, I was good. "I c..can't be b..b..blue!" I wailed.

He looked alarmed at my sudden outburst. The other boys just stared at me unsure what to do with the crying smurfette.

"Okay, okay I will. Just a moment" he said and muttered an incantation. I immediately turned back to my normal color.

I stopped crying and grinned at him. I winked at Fred and stalked out. But not before I executed a well aimed kick to James' shin. I walked out of the dormitory. At this time many of the boys had heard my yelling and stuck their heads out the doors. I kept my head held high and proceeded to the stairs. It was unfortunate timing for my feet to decide not to cooperate and I plummeted to the ground. I heard a few snickers and I felt myself blushing but kept going and eventually I made it back to our dorm room. When I checked the time it was 5 o'clock and there was no point going back to sleep. I decided to go and get breakfast before tryouts. I was just in time. Mmmm bacon.

* * *

This was it, I finally realized that Wood was crazy. It was a bloody blizzard outside and he was still going ahead with tryouts. It would be a miracle if no one was killed.

"Okay team. We only need to fill one chaser position so it will be Skye and Hayley's opinions that matter most. If they don't fit in well with them then there's no point in them being on the team" Wood began the pre-tryout talk. I was doing my best not to stare at his perfectly sculpted face, curse these hormones. "Now there is slightly less of a turnout than I expected..." I snorted, understatement of the century. Only two people had showed up, where's the Gryffindor spirit! "...but I'm sure it will be fine and we will definitely win the cup this year!". Shouts of approval came from the team.

The two people that showed up I recognized as a rather small third year girl and a rather large seventh year boy. But size didn't really matter in Quidditch.

Wood started them off with some basic drills, the whole team was fixated on the pair. Luckily they were both very good. He then moved on to putting them both with me and Skye to see who fit in better and ran us through some passing drills. It continued this way until Wood finally yelled at us to gather around. Thank Merlin, my behind felt like it no longer existed.

"Okay so both of them were very good and both got the same score in shooting but who do you think was better from watching?" he asked us.

The team was split but both Skye and I felt that the seventh year, who's name we learned was Craig O'Hara, worked better with us, perhaps it was just down to confidence, but no doubt the girl was still excellent. Wood decided to trust our opinion and take Craig.

We all trudged back into the dressing rooms covered in mud and absolutely frozen. They better have something good on for lunch I could eat a pig. No scratch that I could eat a pig if it was made into bacon. I wouldn't eat raw pig, ew. As I was walking back to the castle I passed the boy's dressing room and couldn't help but notice that the door was open. Being the hormonal teenage girl that I was, I peeked inside. Don't judge, the hormones made me do it. Unfortunately it was not our extremely gorgeous captain that I saw but James bloody Potter who I couldn't help but notice looked rather fit shirtless...

"Uh Hayley what are you doing?" I was ambushed from behind by Skye.

"Ugh.. I was.. It..." I hung my head "Shirtless" I said shamefully.

Skye just laughed and pulled me away which was totally unfair, where were _her_ hormones. Curse my genetics. I soon forgot about my debacle once I saw the food. Merlin I was hungry. There was no bacon but that was okay I had eaten a enough earlier, I'm not going to say how much though. My brain then began to wander and I found myself remembering James' bare chest and his abs...

"Hayley you're drooling" Rose said.

I quickly shut my mouth. I would think of James no more. Be gone foul memory. I managed to finish my food without picturing a shirtless boy once! I was very proud of myself and decided to call this my accomplishment of the day. Another unfortunate occurrence today was my detention. I bloody hate Saturdays.

* * *

I arrived at detention five minutes early. I was told that we were going to help Hagrid. Who is this 'we' you might ask? Well ten minutes later in sauntered none other than James. He winked at me and looked absolutely delighted that we were going to Hagrid's.

"It'll be fun" he assured me. But I was still mad at him because of the whole smurf incident.

We walked down to Hagrid's in silence with him cracking the occasional joke and me ignoring him.

Eventually he sighed "Look I am sorry about turning you blue. I just thought it was a good idea at the time"

I stopped in surprise. He was apologizing! Well now I really had seen everything.

"S'ok" I muttered and his face split into a huge grin.

"Great! Now we can have fun!" he laughed.

"James we're in detention, we can't have fun" I replied. I was trying really hard not to picture him shirtless so that was taking up all my concentration. Meanwhile he was bumbling on about something or another.

Eventually we reached Hagrid's.

"Hello you two!" he cried happily "What're you doing in detention so soon?"

"Talking back to Professor Pritchett" James smiled happily.

"Oh, uhh I may have gone to class in my pajamas" I blushed.

"Oh that was you!" Hagrid let out a great booming laugh.

We spent the whole detention just talking while we cleaned out the pig pen. Yes Hogwarts has pigs, no they can't fly. I learned that Hagrid was a close friend of the Potters and Weasleys, though I had never see him at the Burrow.

"Alright you two, that'll do it" he said finally "I'll see you later".

"Bye Hagrid!" we chorused. I never thought it possible to enjoy detention but there you have it, miracles can happen.

"You coming to the Burrow at Christmas?" James asked as he caught up to me.

"Ya I think so. Grandma Weasley invited us" I replied.

"Great! I can't wait to see your Mum again" he smiled. Merlin that was it I'd had it with people being in love with my Mum.

"Later Potter" I said before hurrying off.

I was tired after Quidditch and detention. So I fell asleep quickly that night, my mind full of thoughts of six packs...

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you so much guys for reading. I hope you liked this chapter, it's not my favorite so far but I thought I still better upload it. Please comment what you thought!**

 **Bye**

 **Jessica.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry I just couldn't wait to upload this. So I just typed out this whole chapter but then it got deleted:( but I hope you like it.**

* * *

The weeks sped by until it was Halloween. Also known as my sixteenth birthday. I am not a party girl. My idea of a perfect birthday would be staying in my pajamas all day, eating a load of cake and chocolate and watching a movie. Yes you're right I am fat and lazy. But of course there is no electricity in Hogwarts so that was a bust. Plus my friends seemed to have a very different idea for my birthday.

"So what kind of party are we having for your sweet sixteenth?" Roxy asked me excitedly.

"Oh well I was kind of thinking-" I began.

"What about a party?" Al asked coming over.

"Hayley's sweet sixteenth. I was thinking..."

It went on and on like this with all my friends throwing in ideas and me sitting there silently. There was no point intervening now. Eventually it was decided that we would have a traditional Halloween Party dedicated to me. Original.

They only had three days left to plan it and my friends would all mysteriously disappear so I ended up spending a lot of time with Fred and James. Gasp I know but it wasn't that bad.

"So who are you going to the Yule Ball with?" James asked one evening.

"Merlin, that's ages away" I said " But I'll probably just go alone."

"What? You can't go alone!" James said in shock.

"I've gone alone or with the girls every year before, James. Besides if I couldn't get a date before then I definitely won't now after the whole pajama and smurfette incident. All hot males seem to keep their distance" I answered *sigh*.

"Hey I'm a hot male and I don't keep my distance" he pouted. Merlin what is it with arrogant teenage boys. I snorted, classy I know.

"I'm not sure you really count James" I said trying to keep my voice cool but I felt myself blush remembering the 'hormones incident'.

"Why not! I'm hot" he exclaimed.

It was Fred's turn to snort now.

"Would you snog me then James?" I said lightly, only messing with him.

But then James turned bright red. Merlin he was _blushing_. Now I had seen everything.

"Of course not!" He said uncomfortably but then he let out a wild laugh.

I felt uncomfortable. He was acting really weird. Fred was hitting him and telling him to stop. They exchanged a meaningful look. Telepathy I'm sure of it.

"I...uh... need to go to the library, Bye!" he yelped and he rushed out with Fred right behind him.

I just heard him mutter "James you idiot-" before they disappeared.

Something was definitely up but I was, unfortunately, not blessed with powers of observation and decided not to investigate. I'm no Ravenclaw after all. Oh well it was probably just girlfriend problems.

* * *

Finally came the big day Halloween/my birthday. I was rudely awoken by my excitable friends. Inconsiderate might be a better word.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I heard them yell.

I moaned and pulled the covers over my head. Too early. I felt the covers being yanked off the bed and I moaned again.

"Noooo"

"Come on Hayley! It's a busy day" Roxanne grabbed me and yanked me down to the common room where I could open my presents. I was surprised by the amount of people there. Roxanne, Skye, Rose, Emma, Al, Louis, Ethan and even the other Weasleys, James, Fred, Dominique, Lily and Hugo. I have to say I felt loved.

"HAPPY SWEET SIXTEENTH!" They shouted.

I was immediately enveloped in a bone crushing hug.

"Eeep!" I squeaked.

"Time for you to open your presents!" Dom squealed.

From Mum I got a huge assortment of muggle sweets that I always missed when I was at Hogwarts and a beautiful silver charm bracelet. All the girls cooed happily.

"We all got you a joined present Hayhay" Lily smiled, that was her nickname for me.

James came from the back of the crowd carrying a package shaped like a...

"No" I whispered in disbelief. I ripped of the paper packaging and let out an excited squeak. There lay my dream broom The Cleansweep Ultra. It was beautifully carved and polished. It was specially shaped to get maximum speed. It was incredible.

I leaped onto James smothering him in a hug. He looked quite pink but pleased when I pulled away.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" I yelled as I hugged everyone.

By the time I had finished opening my presents and talking and laughing with everyone, it was lunchtime.

Roxanne had specially requested that they do bacon for my birthday and I shoveled it into my mouth by the bucketful, not caring about manners.

After lunch I was dragged back to the dorm room so we could get ready for the party that night. I have to say I was excited. Lily and Dom joined us in the dorm specially for me. It was decided that Skye and I weren't trusted to do our own hair and makeup because of Skye's tomboyness and my don't-give-a-shit attitude. I was pulled away by Dom to do my makeup. But when I looked in the mirror, I gasped. Dom had done my makeup quite minimal but I actually looked semi-pretty. My blue eyes looked wider and bluer and my skin looked flawless and glowy. I smiled happily. I was then dragged away my Roxy who did my hair while Skye had her makeup done by Dom. Roxanne did loose natural curls and let it fall down my back with one small silver butterfly clip. It looked really nice.

Now it was time for our outfits. In third year, Rose had come up with a brilliant way of getting the perfect dress. We just transfigured our old dresses until they were perfect. We had all perfected the charms by now.

My dress was a white sort of lacy skater dress that was fitted at the waist and then flowed it out. I had to admit I looked really pretty.

Eventually we were all ready and it was time to go.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you liked this chapter. I want to thank everyone who followed and commented. You have no idea how much it means to me to see that people like what I have written and I get excited every time I get an email. So thank you. I had an idea I wanted to run by you guys. I came up with another idea for a fic but this is focused on Lucy Weasley. She is not a character people really write about and I wouldn't really read about her but I have written one chapter and really like it. Lucy and Hayley are polar opposites and I probably would't start it for a while but is that something you would want to see? If you want you can pm me for a sneak preview of the first chapter and if you like it I might post it.**

 **Also I never really described what the other girls are wearing because I thought it would be a bit boring for you guys but if you like to know that kind of thing you can pm me. Sorry this note is so long. Thanks again you guys! Let me know what you think.**

 **Bye**

 **Jessica.**


	5. Chapter 5

The party was in the Great Hall and the whole school was invited. It was more of a Halloween party dedicated to me than my actual birthday party. The music was thumping. I took a breath, here goes nothing, and went inside. The Hall actually looked incredible. There were large models of a snake, an eagle, a badger and a lion. They were suspended in the air. Pumpkins and candles were everywhere and cobwebs hung above us. I was impressed. Then my super-human-food-vision spotted the food table.

I made a beeline for it. I was in desperate need of some chocolate right now.

But I was on my way when I was intercepted by a _male._ Yes a member of the male/ape species was acknowledging my existence! You shocked? Well you will be because that male/ape was none other than _Chris Evans!_ I thought I was about to have a breakdown right there and then.

"Hey, you're that pajama girl, right?" he asked nonchalantly.

I squeaked. My vocal chords seemed to have momentarily fallen into disrepair.

He seemed to take this as a yes because he grinned at me.

"That was hilarious" he laughed "What's your name?"

"Uh Hayley" I squeaked yet again, Merlin I was really impressing him wasn't I.

"How come I've never noticed you around before? I think I'd remember someone who looked like you." he winked.

That just about did it, I nearly fainted on the spot. He thought I was pretty! Play it cool Hayley, deep breaths.

"Well you mustn't have been looking then" I replied struggling to keep my tone even.

"You want a drink?" he asked smiling.

"Sure" I replied easily, batting my eyelashes. This whole flirting thing was getting easier!

He returned a few minutes later with two cups. I sniffed if peering inside.

"Don't worry, it's just butterbeer" he laughed.

I decided to trust him and took a small sip of the honey colored liquid. I tried to do it as daintily as possible so I could impress him with femininity. Unfortunately I choked on it and started spluttering. I groaned internally.

"You're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team right?" he asked kindly ignoring my stupidity. I nodded and smiled. "Don't suppose you could let me in on any of your secrets?" he asked winking.

"If I told you that I'm afraid I'd have to kill you" I smiled sweetly. Well actually Ashton would kill me first then go after Chris but still, I was flirting.

"Oh the bravery of Gryffindors" he smiled " Just wait till we kick your ass this season"

"Haha, you wish Ravenclaw" I grinned " We'll flatten you!"

We laughed for a moment before Chris held out his hand to me,

"You wanna dance?" he asked.

I glanced out onto the floor. A slow song was on and couples were clutching each other and swaying gently. But was I ready for this? Merlin, I' d never slow danced with a boy! How pathetic am I.

"Sure" I said taking his warm hand. I'd never even held a boy's hand!

He gently placed his hands on my hips and I wound my hands around his neck, just like Dom taught us back when we were thirteen and going to our first Yule Ball. We swayed gently in time to the music. I spotted Roxanne dancing with Ethan. Her eyes widened when she saw me with Chris. She winked at me and mouthed "Nice one!" before resting her head on Ethan's shoulder.

He pulled me closer to him so we were pressed up against each other. I decided to copy Roxanne and rest my head on his shoulder and we moved together. We danced until the song ended and Chris broke apart from me.

"Hey Hayley, I gotta hang out with my mates for a while but I'll see you around, yeah?" he gazed at me with his hazel eyes and I melted, "I will be looking this time".

"Of course" I said breathlessly "I'll see you around"

He gently pressed a kiss on my cheek and disappeared into the crowd. I stood there dumbstruck, unable to move my limbs.

I saw Skye barreling through the throngs of people towards me. She grabbed my hand and tugged me out into the small courtyard outside.

"Well?" she said "Chris Evans was dancing with you! He kissed your cheek!"

"Oh my Godric, I can't believe that just happened!" I squeaked.

We shared a shamelessly girly moment, I know you've had those too, and gushed about the dreamy God that was Chris Evans. Skye and I never were never particularly girly but this was a special situation.

We headed back inside and began dancing to the really catchy tunes of the Weird Sisters. I was having a blast. Who knew that I too could be a party girl.

Just then the track changed to Celestina Warbeck. Fred and James appeared out of nowhere,

"Care to dance ladies?" They asked but gave us no time to respond.

James grabbed my hand and swung me around twirling and spinning me around the floor. We laughed and danced. Then we swapped dance partners and I was with Fred.

Suddenly Fred released me. His mouth was hanging open in shock.

"Merlin's Beard!" he said in shock.

I followed his gaze and my mouth dropped open too. For there in the middle of the hall was Louis snogging the mouth off someone who was not female.

* * *

"Louis!" I squealed, running over to him.

He broke apart from the boy he was snogging and looked at me sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you" he said quietly "It's not the easiest thing to break to people"

"Aww don't worry about it" I said wrapping my arms around his waist.

I stuck out my hand to shake hands with the other boy,

"Hi I'm Louis' friend Hayley" I said cheerfully

"I'm Harry Abbot, I'm in sixth year in Hufflepuff" he said looking relieved I hadn't hit him and took my hand gratefully.

By now Louis and Harry had attracted quite a crowd. They were, as of now, the school's only openly gay couple.

"Well, well" I heard a sneer behind me "Looks like there's a gay in the Weasley family"

I whipped around looking for the speaker. I found myself glaring into the eyes of Joshua Nott.

"What's going on here" I heard a fierce voice from the crowd as Dom barged through.

" Oh nothing except that your brother is a gay motherfucker" he spat on the ground at Louis' feet "How does it feel for the Weasley name to be even lower than it was?"

That was it, I snapped. So did Dom and we both went sprinting towards Nott knocking him to the ground. Our wands lay forgotten as we pummeled Nott. I didn't care about anything except hurting him. I felt a pair of beefy hands grab my dress and flung me back. I landed heavily but picked myself up and looked for who had done it. Goyle. The whole of Hogwarts watched as I sprinted towards him. I kicked him in the baby maker, he grunted and bent over in pain. He flung a punch at me that connected with the side of my face painfully.

"OI!" I heard a voice yell "Don't you touch her!".

I turned around and saw James sprinting towards Goyle.

I ran over to Nott again determined on causing him as much pain as possible.

"What in the name of Godric s going on here!" I heard someone bellow.

We were in for it now.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **What did you think? I am actually really happy with this chapter. It contained some fluff at the beginning and what did you think of that bombshell? Please let me know what you thought. I lovelovelove getting comments. Again what do you think of my Lucy story idea (read last chapter's author's note)? Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it!**

 **Love Jessica.**


	6. Chapter 6

James, Dom and I sat in Professor McGonagall's office across from Nott and Goyle. She was droning on and on about upholding the school's reputation and fighting was a serious offence. I felt sick inside. I never really got in trouble apart from the odd detention but I felt like I disappointed Mum. I don't regret what I did and I could only hope she understood.

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" McGonagall asked finally.

We all remained silent, unwilling to apologize.

"Very well then" she sighed "Detention, every Saturday for a month. Now please return to your dormitories"

We each got up and shuffled out.

"Hey, that's not so bad" James said brightly "We could have been banned from Quidditch or something"

I shuddered just thinking about it. "

"Yes well, on a lighter note, was that Chris Evans you were dancing with Hayley?" Dom asked slyly.

"What Chris Evans Ravenclaw captain?" James said shocked "Why were you dancing with the enemy" he whined

"He's hot and very nice" I shrugged.

"I'm hot and very nice" James whined "You could have just danced with me instead, or any other Gryffindor"

"James, I will dance with whoever I want" I said "And nice is not the word I'd use to describe you"

His face lit up like Christmas had come early.

"You think I'm hot?" he asked smirking.

"What! I did not say that!" I sputtered, my cheeks going bright red because yes, though I would never admit it, I did think James was good looking.

"You said that nice is not the word you'd use to describe me, but you never said anything about hot"

I glowered at him.

"Well I'm going to leave you two to your sexual tension" Dom laughed before sauntering off.

"Oi! We do not have sexual tension!" James yelled after her. His face went red.

"Right well I'm leaving too" I said my cheeks still glowing.

"Night, Collins" he muttered, put off by Dom's comment.

"Night Potter" I said "And by the way, thanks for hitting Goyle for me"

The whole side of my face where Goyle had punched me was bruised. He had a large fist.

"Hey no problem" he said softly "Does it hurt" he asked putting a hand gently on my bruise.

I shivered.

"A little" I admit " But it could be worse"

He removed his hand from my face and shook his head

"See you tomorrow." he said walking away "And Happy Birthday!"

The side of my face felt tingly where James had touched it. Probably just the bruise.

I put on the My Little Pony pajamas and clambered into bed. The only person in the room was Emma and she was fast asleep. The others were still down at the party, I assumed. Merlin this had been an eventful birthday. I thought about dancing with Chris and Louis with Harry Abbot and James running over to hit Goyle for me.

I smiled at that last one, he had been defending me. He probably felt the same protectiveness to me as to Al and Lily. I was already almost part of the family so it kind of made sense. But I wondered would Chris actually talk to me again, or was it just empty promises. Merlin I hoped not.

* * *

The next day, I was not awoken by my friends. Thank Merlin. My right side was aching like crazy. I pulled up my shirt and there was a large bruise there that I had been sleeping on all night. It must have been from when I landed after Goyle threw me. My face hurt too. It was going to be a long day.

I was tired from the night before so I decided to just throw on an old t-shirt and trackies and throw my hair up into a messy bun. I didn't care what I looked like today. The dorm was empty so I decided to just head down to breakfast. I could really use some bacon. Or chocolate. Chocolate covered bacon! I grabbed some chocolate to have with my bacon and headed down to the Great Hall.

The decorations had been taken down and the four tables restored. I got a lot of people staring at the bruise on my face. I plopped myself down between Ashton and James. I was still half asleep and I mumbled

"Bacon"

James looked at me weirdly.

"Need bacon" I said again.

He pushed down a whole platter of bacon and I began munching on it. I worked out that I should wrap the bacon around the chocolate for a sweet surprise. It tasted better that way.

"Uh Hayley, you're not pregnant are you?" Ashton asked worriedly, I spat my bacon all over the table.

"What!" I yelped "Of course not you twat"

"Thank Merlin. I just thought seeing as you were eating bacon and chocolate together-" Ashton said looking visibly relieved.

"Bacon and chocolate are the two most delicious foods ever to grace this lonely planet. It is natural for them to be eaten together" I sniffed, stuffing a load more bacon and chocolate into my mouth.

"Oh alright" Ashton said looking confused by my sleepy mumbles.

"Hey Hayley" I heard the sexy voice of Chris Evans behind me. Well shit.

I chewed my chocolate and bacon as fast as I could.

"Are you eating chocolate and bacon?" he asked, confused.

"Um yeah it's good" I mumbled "Want some?"

"No thanks" he laughed

My cheeks were reddening. My sleepy brain hadn't even thought of looking nice for Chris.

"I heard about the fight yesterday, are you all right? That bruise looks quite nasty" he asked looking concerned.

"Oh it's not too bad. I've had a lot worse from Quidditch and everything" I laughed

It was true I had broken many bones and had many concussions from playing Quidditch and spent many nights in the hospital wing.

"So, uh, there's a Ravenclaw party in the common room tonight to celebrate the start of the Quidditch season. You should come" he said smiling shyly.

Merlin he was adorable. I blinked in surprise. I was never invited to other house's parties.

"You can bring your friends" he said pleadingly.

"Oh ya sure" I replied, still stunned.

"You can come too, Potter, Wood" he nodded at them "Well I'll see you later then Hayley"

"Bye!" I called after him.

"I don't like you going to a Ravenclaw party Hayley" Ashton said, looking annoyed

"And I don't like Chris, so you probably shouldn't go" Potter cut in.

"Merlin, you two are hypocrites!" I said indignantly "James, you've snogged at least one (definitely more) girl from every house, and Ashton your girlfriend is in Ravenclaw so you'd be going anyway!"

I got up and left the table. I bet those two had already been planning on going.

On my way out of the hall I ran into Ethan and Skye.

"Hey guys, Chris invited me to a Ravenclaw party tonight and he said I could bring my friends. You in?"

"Sure!" Skye beamed.

"Will you tell Roxy and the others? I'm just going to the kitchens for a while" I replied.

Al had shown us how to get to the kitchens in second year. It was usually where I went to relax and think. I brought a book and a blanket and snuggled into one of the corners with a snack. I was in desperate need of some time alone to think for awhile.

"Yeah we will" she smiled "See you later!"

So I scurried off to get my blanket and a book. At home I had Netflix but here a book would have to do. I then made my way to tickle the pear.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you so much for reading! This is a bit of a filler chapter I suppose, sorry. Please review and tell me what you think. I love hearing other people's opinions.**

 **Love Jessica.**


	7. Chapter 7

I stood in the Ravenclaw common room awkwardly. My friends were off doing Godric knows what and Chris had yet to make an appearance. I had spent a long time in the kitchens thinking about Chris, I even vented my feelings to the House Elves who were very comforting. But the longer I thought, the more I realized.

I didn't get butterflies when I saw him. Sure I was nervous but the whole point of being with someone is to be yourself with that person. I'm pretty sure if he knew how crazy I really was he'd run the other direction. When he touched me I didn't feel anything and I had no strong urges to shove my tongue down his throat. I had read enough romance novels/watched enough Netflix (same thing) to know that I didn't fancy Chris. He was good looking and sweet, but I didn't fancy him.

I turned on my heel about to leave when I ran into a very solid chest.

"Oof" I mumbled and fell over.

I saw the solid chest hold out his hand to help me up. I looked up to find that it was just Potter.

I grabbed his hand and hoisted myself up before immediately tripping on someones pile of books, damn Ravenclaws. I felt James' strong arm wrap around my waist steadying me.

I yelped in pain and jumped back. The bruise on my side looked worse than ever and it was still very tender.

"Hayley, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" he asked looking at me in concern.

"No no, I'm fine" I said quickly before charging out of the common room. I really didn't need anyone feeling sorry for me, especially Potter.

Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough and James caught up to me, wrapping a hand around my wrist.

"Hayley, you can tell me" he said softly, blinking his warm brown eyes. I decided I hate warm brown eyes that looked like melted chocolate with strawberries... Sorry sidetracked.

My hand unconsciously went to my hip. James followed my movement and yanked up my sweater. Not too far though, don't worry I was _not_ about to flash my cleavage.

He stared at my side for a moment before meeting my eyes.

"Hayley, that looks pretty bad. You should go to Madam Pomfrey" he said.

"Fine. I'll go. See you later" I muttered and shuffled off.

"Nice try, I'm coming with you" he grinned

"Fine, fine" I said and we walked off in silence.

* * *

We made our way back to the Gryffindor common room after Madam Pomfrey healed me. It only took ten minutes.

"You not got any girls to snog Potter" I asked, surprised he had abandoned the party to stay with me.

"You not got a Chris to snog Collins" he replied.

"That was never going to go anywhere" I sighed "I don't fancy Chris"

"So who do you fancy?" he asked looking curious.

"No one" I said

"But you still think I'm good looking" he grinned

"That was a slip of the tongue Potter" I snapped

"You sure? You seemed quite serious" he was still grinning but surprisingly it wasn't a smirk

The common room was relatively empty so we had a sofa to ourselves.

"Who do you think will win next week?" I asked changing the subject.

The first match of the season, Hufflepuff versus Slytherin.

"Oh Slytherin for sure" he replied easily "Ever since Malfoy became seeker they've actually got a good team"

"Yeah, the Hufflepuff seeker just isn't up to his standard. The rest of the team are actually pretty decent though" I said

"Hey isn't Louis's Harry on the team as a beater?" James asked

"Now that you mention it, I think he is" I replied.

We continued like this discussing Quidditch. We are both huge Holyhead Harpies fans and were anticipating the first game of the season against Chudley Cannons. We were actually having a pretty good time.

"Why don't you stay at our house this Christmas instead of the Burrow?" James said suddenly

"Well I guess so" I replied, stunned "I'll see you anyway and I do love Mrs Potter's cooking..."

"Especially her chocolate cake" James smiled at me "I know Al and Lily would love to have you too"

"Yeah sure, I'd love to" I smiled right back.

"Hey, you wanna go to the kitchen and get some food?" James asked

My stomach let out a loud grumble and I turned tomato red.

"I'll take that as a yes" he grinned.

He reached out entwining his fingers in mine and pulled me off out the common room. I felt my cheeks turn pink and my stomach was doing somersaults but they weren't unpleasant. Merlin, I was hungrier than I thought. James and I sprinted through the corridors. He kept his eyes trained on the Marauder's Map so we could avoid any prefects on patrol or snogging couples.

Eventually we reached the painting that marked the place of the kitchen. James reached out a hand and tickled the pear. His fingers were long and slender, seekers fingers, I thought to myself. I on the other hand had small chubby hands, like a baby. I huffed silently. Why couldn't I have gotten the slender hands and long dark lashes. He didn't deserve them.

As soon as we entered the kitchen we were swarmed with House Elves.

"Mr Potter, Ms Collins. Can we get you anything at all?" they asked eagerly, looked like I wasn't the only regular to the kitchen. They knew James' name too.

"Ooh yes!" I cried gleefully "Some chocolate and bacon please!"

They immediately rushed off to find it for me. There work ethic was impressive. I can barely get myself out of bed, that's my accomplishment of the day.

"You are so weird" James said "Chocolate and bacon?"

"Oh please. You just wished you were as completely amazing as me and had awesome ideas like chocolate and bacon" I said and, maturely, stuck out my tongue.

"Yeah I don't think so Collins" he grinned "I think completely deranged is a better adjective"

I punched his arm, laughing. Right now I didn't know what to think of James. He had changed so much this year. He was being... nice. I didn't know what had spurred this change of heart. But I wanted to find out.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, thank you so much for reading. Your comments and support really do mean the world to me. I'm sorry for all the dialogue in this chapter but I'm just unsure of what to write. I know where the story is heading I just need to fill in the remaining chapters. Also, I might not be able to update as much because I start school soon and I won't have much time to write (save me please!). I will hopefully be starting a new story soon called 'A Series of Fortunate Events' centered around Lucy Weasley. Again if you want to know more you can pm me or guests can ask in the comments and I will respond here.**

 **Thank you so much for reading. Hopefully I can think of some more ideas for the next few chapters.**

 **Hint: Something happens at Christmas xD**

 **Love you all loads and loads.**

 **Jessica.**

 **PS. You can pm me any time you want if you have any sort of questions. I'd love to hear from you!**


	8. Chapter 8

November 15th was fast approaching, the day of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match. The most anticipated match of the season. Wood made us practice constantly. Every morning at 5 o'clock and every Monday and Thursday afternoon. No other team practiced as much as we did in the cold weather. Tensions were high. It was Wood's last year as captain and he wanted to win the cup. Last year Ravenclaw had beaten us by 10 points. The whole team had spent weeks in mourning. Slytherin was now a serious contender too. Scorpius Malfoy was the best player on the team and an exceptionally good seeker. We just had to hope that James was better.

The morning of the match we had no training so we would be rested for the game.

I stared at the bowl of porridge in front of me. Wood made the whole team eat porridge and fruit on match days. I would prefer some bacon and eggs, partly why I was just staring at the porridge in disgust. My stomach was turning over and over, I was so nervous I felt sick.

"You okay, Hayley?" James asked sitting beside me, staring at his own porridge with a similar look of disgust.

"Yeah fine" I muttered

"I can't eat this stuff" James said "Quick lets eat some bacon before Wood sees"

I grinned, food always made me feel better.

We quickly filled our plated with bacon, eggs, pancakes and whatever else we could find. We munched happily on the greasy, delicious food until we heard the dreaded sound.

"Oi! Potter, Collins! What the hell are you eating?" Wood stormed over and yanked our plates away.

I sighed as I watched my remaining food slide to the floor where Wood promptly vanished it.

"You are supposed to eat porridge and fruit!" he yelled "Not this fatty, unhealthy shit!"

The whole hall was watching with interest as Wood shouted at us. I fidgeted with my robes and kept my head down.

"Hey calm down Wood, it's just food. No big deal" James said quietly, tying to calm the raging Wood.

"No big.. No big deal!" he screamed, his voice slowly getting higher and louder "This is one of the most important matches of the Quidditch season! It is vital that you have a good breakfast so you are able to perform to your maximum potential!"

"We will still play our best we just had a different kind of good breakfast. Relax Wood, we'll win" James said in the same calming tone as before.

"You better Potter because this whole match is riding on you catching the snitch before Malfoy" he spat and stalked off to terrorize some other poor soul.

We sat stunned for a moment. Wood was very dedicated when it came to Quidditch and he gave some intense team talks but he had never been that harsh.

"It's not all on your shoulders James" I said gently "It's a team effort, not just one person's responsibility"

"He's right though" he sighed "If I don't catch the snitch it's all my fault we lost"

"No it's bloody not James" I said fiercely "Wood was wrong to say that. He has just as much responsibility as keeper, Fred as beater and me as chaser. He's just nervous, more nervous than we thought. He'd never say something like that normally"

"Thanks Collins" he smiled.

"Hey kids!" Fred skipped over

He was one of those people that just got more hyper the more nervous he got. Roxanne was right beside him grinning, she was the same. Although they fought a lot they were very close and were an excellent team. The best beaters we had ever had. You couldn't really have one without the other.

He plopped himself down between us and slung his arms across our shoulders.

"Ready for the game?" he asked cheerfully.

I couldn't understand how he didn't seem nervous at all.

"Ready as I'll ever be" I said, gritting my teeth.

"No worries Hayley. Do what you do best, chase" Roxanne said and settled herself on the bench beside me.

"Hakuna Matata" I said trying to cheer up "What a wonderful phrase"

"Hakuna Matata, ain't no passing craze" Rose said happily from across the table.

I blinked at her in surprise. How did she know the Lion King?

"Me and Hugo watched it with Granny and Granddad Granger" she smiled

"It means no worries, for the rest of your days" I sang "It's our problem free, philosophy. Hakuna Matata" she joined

We ended up belting it out at the table. A few other muggle-borns who knew the words joined in too. I ended up in stitches. Everyone who didn't know the muggle film was looking at us oddly but it worked, I didn't feel nervous anymore.

Eventually it was time to head down to the match. We had now moved on to singing some of The Weird Sisters greatest hits and all of Gryffindor joined in as we made our way to the dressing rooms. The whole house was united for the match and it made me feel better.

We split up into boys and girls and changed into our Quidditch uniforms. Bold scarlet with a golden lion roaring on the back.

* * *

We flew out onto the field. Roars coming from Gryffindor and a few from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. It was freezing out but I knew that once the match started I would no longer feel the cold. Madam Hooch stood below us

"All ready? Make sure to keep it nice and clean" she yelled above the noise of the wind.

Ashton shook hands with Gordon Harvey, the Slytherin captain. I could see him trying to crush Ashton's hand, tradition must be upheld I suppose. It should be named the annual hand crushing.

Ashton took his his position over in front of the middle hoop and Madam Hooch released the snitch and bludgers then threw up the quaffle and we were off. Polly Zabini grabbed the quaffle first just before I got to it and took off down the field.

"And Zabini has the quaffle from Slytherin!" came the familiarly cheerful voice of Anna Jordan from the stands.

I clenched my teeth and tore after Zabini. A well aimed bludger from Fred smashed into her arm and she dropped the quaffle trying to hold onto her broom. Craig was underneath her and caught the quaffle neatly and tossed it to me and I immediately shot for the Slytherin hoops. At the last minute I threw the quaffle to Skye and she scored in the right hoop before the keeper could even turn around.

"Wood scores! It's ten points nothing to Gryffindor!" Yelled Anna, excitedly. She was a Gryffindor after all.

The keeper tossed it out to one of the chasers and the match went on.

After half an hour the score was 90 to 40 to us but the snitch still hadn't been sighted. Malfoy and James were very evenly matched.

"And... I think... Potter's seen the snitch!" shouted Anna.

I turned around and sure enough Potter had gone into a nosedive Malfoy chasing after him. They were neck on neck. I could barely watch. Suddenly a bludger hit my side and I was knocked off my broom with the force. I plummeted down but just before I landed I heard cheers.

"Potter has caught the snitch. Gryffindor wins!"

Then I hit the ground. I didn't black out. I had landed awkwardly on my legs and there was a loud crack and a searing pain.

"SHIT!" I bellowed and I heard a gasp from the crowd.

I tried to fight back my tears but the minute I looked down they streamed down my face. My leg was bent the wrong way and there was blood all over my hands where I had cut them on the hard icy ground.

"Quick, someone get Madam Pomfrey" I heard Anna yelp.

"Where's my broom?" I moaned.

There was silence.

"Someone get me my bloody broom!" I said louder this time.

"Alright, alright keep your hair on" I heard James say and he lay my broom down beside me.

"Trust you to think about your broom right now" he grinned but the smile dropped from his face when he saw my leg and hands.

"Merlin that looks bad" he whispered, horrified.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" I heard a woman scream.

Ah finally Madam Pomfrey was here. She shoved a spoon of the most disgusting liquid down my throat and I gagged, struggling to keep it down. I felt all the pain disappear and I felt like I was on a cloud.

"Jamesie" I sighed happily "How thoughtful of you to bring my broom to me. You are such a good, good boy."

"Uh has she gone loopy?" I heard Craig say.

"It was just a strong pain potion that can have some... dreamy effects" Madam Pomfrey replied.

I no longer felt like I was in my body but I was watching someone else control it and all I could do was watch.

Madam Pomfrey took out her wand and said clearly "Episkey". I felt my leg snap into place but it was utterly painless. She then held her wand over my hands and muttered a few spells. The cuts slowly knitted themselves together and the blood disappeared.

"Now I will have to take her to the hospital wing for awhile until the potion wears off" she said.

"I'll take her" I heard James say and he scooped me up into his arms.

"Ah yes, such a good, good boy Jamesie" I smiled dreamily and I kissed him full on the mouth before drifting off into a blissfully happy sleep.

* * *

"Blargh" I groaned groggily rousing myself from sleep.

"Hey there sunshine" James grinned happily at me "Look alive, we've got a party to go to"

He jumped off my bed and walked over to the door.

"Huh" I said trying to wipe the sleepiness from my brain. What party... Oh we won the match! I leaped off the bed and landed in a heap on the floor.

"Oww" I moaned rubbing my creaky limbs "What's wrong with my legs?"

"You fell off your broom, remember idiot?" James said exasperatedly "Take it easy"

He walked over and took my arm, helping me off the floor. My legs creaked and groaned in protest. I was all stiff.

"So how long was I asleep?" I asked.

"About an hour" he replied as he half carried me through the halls, "The others went to help prepare the common room for the party. They're waiting for us now"

I hobbled along with James' hand holding me upright until we finally reached the portrait hole.

"Gillyweed" James said and the painting swung open. We clambered inside and were met by a huge cheer. Music was thumping around the room. Streamers and balloons in red and gold decorated the whole room. There was a table in the corner piled high with food and drinks. the center of the room had been cleared to make room for a dance floor and all the sofas and armchairs were pushed around the outside of the room.

"Here" James said and lowered me onto a sofa "You need to rest, I'll get you a drink" and he disappeared into the crowd.

I sat back into the sofa and watched the people all around me.

"Hayley" Roxy cried and settled beside me on the couch "How're the legs?"

"Sore" I replied smiling "I can't remember what happened after I fell"

"Oh really?" Roxy said a sly smirk crawling across her face "Well you took this pain potion that made you go a bit crazy. That was funny."

"What did I do?" I groaned, dreading the worst.

"Well, uh... You kissed James" she said slowly

"WHAT!" I shrieked falling off the sofa again.

"It was only a little one, more like a small peck really" she said helping me back up

I started to hyperventilate I kissed James. What the hell! The torment was never going to end at this point.

"What are you two talking about?" James asked sitting between me and Roxanne "Sorry Rox, didn't get you a drink"

He handed me a glass and I took a sip. Ah butterbeer. The golden liquid calmed me down as it slipped down my throat.

"About how Hayley kissed you" she smiled happily "Well I better go now, bye" she hurried off quickly, calling for Ethan.

James turned red and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"I know you took that potion so it wasn't really your fault" he said.

I sighed in relief. I had expected him to tease me mercilessly over this but he was probably just saving it for a rainy day.

"Lets just forget about it" I said "Please?"

He frowned "Sure whatever you want" he said " I gotta find Fred. I'll see you later" and he hurried off into the crowd.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while but I have been very busy with school and sport and stuff. I'll try my best to update at least once a week when I get back into the whole school routine. Thank you all so much for reading. Please comment what you thought.**

 **Love you all loads and loads!**

 **Jessica.**


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up early the next morning. None of the others were up. I showered and changed and headed down to breakfast. There were only three other people in the hall. Everyone must have been feeling the effects of the previous night.

I sat down and began devouring a plate of bacon. It was a much needed snack early in the morning.

I sat there happily for a while, munching on the bacon and some bread. Bread is good too.

"Hayley Collins. What are you doing up so early in the morning" James said behind me.

My face turned pink. I still hadn't gotten over the events of yesterday, aka THE KISS. As it shall now be known as. To be truthful, I had never kissed anyone, ever. You might be thinking that for a boy crazy girl it's weird that I've never kissed anyone but it's true. Well actually I'm not counting a very sloppy kiss from Jeremy Anderson when I was seven but I was completely against that. I had actually gotten in trouble for punching him after that. Ah, young love.

"Hungry" I muttered through mouthfuls of food which would turn any normal person away immediately. Unfortunately James is not normal and my attractive food spitting technique did not work and he sat down beside me. Dang it.

"Of course you were" he smirked "If you're not careful you're gonna get fat. Well fatter than you are already. You know I really had been meaning to say it to you."

"Sod off Potter" I muttered

"Ooooohhh, I'm _Potter_ now am I?" He mocked.

I felt my blood boiling. Ah the joys of being short tempered.

"Yes and you'll always be Potter to me" I said annoyed

"Well there was me thinking we were getting somewhere" he said, still smirking

"Well you must be mistaken then" I snapped

"Yeah I must be. I could never be friends with someone like you anyway" he replied.

I recoiled from him in shock. James teased me sure, but he was never that harsh.

"Hey there beautiful" James turned and grabbed Sarah Jones' hips and set her down in his lap and started snogging her in front of me. She, being the stupid bimbo she is, snogged him back.

I felt tears tingle in my eyes. I didn't even know why it hurt so much. This was just typical James behaviour. But he had been so nice to me lately we had been really getting on. I hadn't seen him with a girl in ages.

I stood up quickly and rushed out of the hall. I looked back just as I turned out the door and saw he had pushed a very annoyed looking Sarah away and was sitting with his head on his hands.

* * *

I avoided James like the plague for the next few weeks. Every time I saw him, he had some new girl by his side. I don't know what I had done to make him so upset but there was no doubt that it was all my fault. I seemed to mess everything up anyway. He seemed to be avoiding me too because we had no awkward run ins and every time I entered a room we both spun around and left.

My friends seemed to notice something was wrong. Rose came to find me in the library one day to talk.

"Hayley" she asked timidly as she approached me "We need to talk"

There was no point in telling Rose no. She was one of those really annoyingly stubborn and persistent people.

"Fine then" I sighed "Where to?"

She gently took my hand and lead me away out of the library. I have to admit I felt sort of relieved. Despite pushing everyone away recently it was nice to finally be able to get everything off my chest. Rose really was the best person to confide in too.

She lead me to one of the old, unused classrooms in the school and crossed her arms and stared at me. She was clearly waiting for me to talk first. Well, two could play at that game. I stood across from her with my arms crossed and a similar look on my face and waited.

She just snorted

"Godric Hayley, could you get anymore immature right now?" she said

I pouted and wrapped my arms around myself. Of course I knew I was being immature and annoying but I just couldn't help it.

Rose sighed again.

"Hayley, you have to tell us whats wrong. You've been being so distant lately and we've been worried" she asked

I let the words hang in the air for a moment. I was unsure how to answer.

"Why are you talking to me?" I blurted out eventually. Rose and I were friends, sure. But I wasn't as close with her as I was with Skye and Roxanne.

"Well, we all agreed I was certainly more tactful than the others and more likely to get results" she said dryly

Well she wasn't wrong there. Skye and Roxanne have about as much tact as a teaspoon.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" she asked again

"I- I ruin everything Rosie!" I wailed and threw myself into her arms

"What do you ruin?" she asked, startled at my sudden outburst.

"It was going s-so well and then I screwed up. It was nice being friends and not constantly attacking each other" I sobbed "I messed it up"

She patted my back consolingly, she had no clue what I was talking about.

"I'm just being stupid" I said annoyed at myself for getting so worked up.

I pushed myself away from Rose and wiped my eyes clean.

"I'm sorry for being such a first class bitch lately" I said

She laughed and pulled me into another hug.

"Come on lets go and get you cleaned up n the bathroom before class" she smiled and she didn't ask any questions which I was extremely thankful for.

All I can say is thank god for the Rose Weasleys of the world. If you don't have one, GET ONE YOU BABOON!

* * *

I went and apologized to my friends for being a terrible friend and they forgave me thank Merlin. They really are the best friends. We spent another night together like the beginning of term. We threw all the blankets and pillows on the floor and lay jumbled in a mass of bodies and limbs, talking and eating. Several trips to the kitchen were made.

But there was still one thing niggling at my mind. James and I were still avoiding each other but Christmas was just around the corner and I was staying at his house. Mum and Ginny had already arranged everything so I couldn't really back out now. But I pushed away the negative thoughts. I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

I really was looking forward to it. I might have lost James but I still had the rest of the Potter family. I don't know how two people as nice as Harry and Ginny Potter had a son as awful as James. But I had a plan formulating inside my brain. I would confront James on his actions. I was a Gryffindor after all. It was time for me to find out why James was avoiding me.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! As always, thank you sosososo much for reading. I know in this chapter you might be a bit confused as to what's wrong with James and Hayley. Or maybe some of you read between the lines (Hint:Look at the end of the last chapter). It might seem that Hayley is being a bit dramatic or annoying but she is confused and she's not perfect in any way.**

 **So anyway, I have decided to start my new story A Series of Fortunate Events and it would mean a lot if you could check that out? Please review and tell me what you think. Nothing makes me happier than when I get an email from fanfiction with a follow or review (except perhaps food).**

 **Love you all loads and loads**

 **Jessica.**


	10. Chapter 10

I was seriously sick of all this OWL stuff so the Christmas holidays were a welcome break from all the homework. They were, however, not welcome. I don't know how I got into Gryffindor because I didn't think I was going to be able to confront James.

I decided to sit with Rose and Emma on the train because of my cowardice.

"Hayley, are you sure you're okay? You seem a little... jittery" Emma asked. She could pick up on even the tiniest emotion in someone's face or actions.

"Jittery. What. No. Of course not. Why would you even say that" I replied gritting my teeth.

Obviously I'm not the best actress but I went to Hogwarts, not drama school. I never claimed to be a good lier either.

Emma accepted my response quietly but I could tell she didn't believe me. Oh well, as long as she didn't ask any more questions I was okay.

The conversation quickly turned to the holidays though.

"Christmas is my favourite!" I cried happily, soon forgetting my problems.

"Me too. I love being all warm and cosy. Reading a book by the fire or tucked up all snug in my bed." Rose sighed happily as her eyes glazed over and she disappeared into a daydream.

"I love spending time with my family" Emma said "We're not as big as the Weasleys but we are just as close. My cousin Susie is coming back from Egypt for Christmas too."

We chatted for hours. Swapping tales and dreams about what we would do, what we would get, what we would eat (my favourite). But finally we pulled into the station.

I hauled the heavy trunk outside and dropped it down. I searched around, trying to spot the familiar curly brown hair of my mother. I stood up on my trunk to get a better view.

"MUM!" I yelled, spotting her bobbing through the crowd.

The trunk wobbled but I kept my balance. I can be elegant every once in awhile you know. I turned to jump off but my foot got caught in the handle and I went plummeting towards the hard grey pavement below. Okay so maybe I can't be elegant but I think I might have a disease that makes me clumsy.

"Hey you alright?" I heard a worried voice behind me.

"Just dandy" I grumbled, brushing away the helping hands.

"Looked like a pretty nasty fall" I heard the voice smiling now.

"Glad to know someone finds my pain funny" I grumbled again.

I looked up to see that the voice belonged to Louis' boyfriend Harry.

"Oh Harry it's you" I muttered, feeling slightly better than if a complete stranger had laughed at me.

"Yes it is I, Harry" he grinned.

Harry became a pretty popular name after the war for obvious reasons.

"Well Harry it is a pleasure talking to you as always but I must find my mother." I said standing and brushing myself off.

"Of course, as should I" he smiled "I might see you over the Christmas? I'm staying with Louis for a few days in the New Year. They throw a party don't they?"

"Courtesy of Mrs Fleur Weasley" I replied "She always seemed to miss the oh so elegant ways of Beauxbatons and I suppose this is her way of recreating it. Wait till you hear all her stories. She goes on for hours to anyone polite enough to listen"

"Good to know. I'll try not to be too polite then" he laughed "I'll see you soon"

"Bye" I smiled back.

"Hayley!" I saw my Mum hurrying towards me, her hands flailing in the air to try and catch my attention.

"Mum!" I cried and threw myself into her arms.

"Aarrgh Hayley!" my Mum yelped as I flattened her into the pavement.

"Oops, sorry Mum" I smiled and jumped off her. I held out my hand to help her up.

"Goodness Hayley, your far to big to be jumping on me. We're practically the same size now" she moaned as she steadied herself "Come on we have to go and find the Potters. I have a new cake recipe that I have been dying to show Ginny"

We wandered around for a little while until we spotted the familiar heads of black and red hair. Ginny and Lily were quite dwarfed by the three dark haired boys. Or men I should say when they're around.

"Ella, Hayley!" Ginny cried, spotting us, and engulfed first my Mum and then me in a huge hug "It's so good to see you again. How's the OWL year going Hayley? Al is sick of all the work but he is the family brainbox so he should be okay. Of course he still finds it hard though. Oh, and how's the quidditch? James was telling me all about the seasons matches, oh how I wish I was still playing, but, you know, I'm not as young as I used to be."

Ginny continued to fire questions at everyone in the car on the way back. Their car had been charmed with an undetectable extension charm to make much more room for everyone. The disproportionate sizes were a little confusing though and I began to feel a little carsick. But we arrived eventually at the Potter's house in Godrics Hollow.

The house was the same one that Harry had lived in as a baby and they had done it up so it was perfect for living. Harry had decided that his parents didn't need a shrine to them for everyone to know of their bravery and knew that they would have wanted him to live there. It was quite a big house too. It was quite modern but with an old feel to it. I loved it.

"Come on Hayley, me and you will be sharing. If that's alright with you?" Lily asked me.

"No that'll be loads of fun" I smiled back. Lily and I really did get along well.

An hour later we were all sitting around a large dining table scoffing down the hoards of food that Ginny and Mum had made with a little help from Albus who was actually pretty good at cooking. Lucky woman that marries him. Finally we finished, two whole hours later, having eaten the lot. No one was able to move so we waddled upstairs to our rooms.

Lily and I stayed up late watching movies on my laptop. She was fascinated by The Hunger Games especially and squealed throughout the whole film. It just so happens that The Hunger Games is my favourite trilogy ever. Around one in the morning we were joined by Al who's bedroom was right beside Lily's and had come to give out about the noise but ended up joining us and watched the whole Avengers movie. Lily and Al shouted at the screen the whole time, asking where their wands were and to just get on a broom. We fell soundly asleep at about four o'clock and I was feeling very optimistic about this Christmas.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading. Please review and tell me what you think. Also, I'm sorry that my chapters are always quite short but I find it hard to write long chapters with school and everything going on. I play a lot of sports as well so that sort of interferes. But anyway, thanks so much!**

 **Love**

 **Jessica.**


	11. Chapter 11

I did not however feel optimistic when we were woken at 7am by none other than James.

Al had been pushed off the bed and onto the floor but he had taken the blanket with him so Lily and I were left shivering. So much for chivalry.

"Rise and shine cupcakes!" trilled James in a false high voice.

"Murgghh" I muttered.

"Get out James!" Lily helped and dove onto the floor trying to wrestle the blanket from Al.

"Come on, Mum wants to have breakfast eaten before we go to the Burrow. She said you have five minutes before she comes up here herself."

This prompted all three of us to leap up and scramble for our clothes. Lily ran for the bathroom and slammed the door. I threw on a pair of jeans and a jumper. Last year's Weasley jumper actually. Grandma Weasley would be pleased. I dragged a brush through my hair and tossed it up into a messy bun. It wasn't much but it would have to do. I marched downstairs, the first one ready. I would have to demand a prize from Lily and Al later.

"Morning Hayley" chirped Ginny. It was a miracle that someone who sounded so nice and happy could be so scary when she was mad.

"Morning Ginny" I replied and settled myself far down the table from James. I had given up calling her Mrs Potter ages ago. I did not want to risk making her mad.

The table was laid with every sort of breakfast food you could possibly imagine. My personal favourite being bacon of course. I quickly grabbed all the food I could fit on my plate before anyone else came. We were soon joined by Harry and Mum, quickly followed by Al. Lily arrived down last, a good fifteen minutes after everyone else.

After everyone had eaten their fill, we gathered in the living room in front of the fire place. Ginny decided to take Mum to the Burrow by side along apparition while the rest of us used floor powder. James went first, followed by Al and then me. I tumbled out of the fireplace coughing. I brushed the dust off my clothes and followed James and Al into the living room. The majority of the Weasley family was already settled in the large room minus George, Angelina, Fred and Roxanne of course who I noticed seemed to be late for everything. I settled on the ground beside Lucy who was Percy and Audrey's daughter and the youngest of the Weasley's being only twelve.

"Who's up for a game of exploding snap?" Louis asked grinning.

We spent the day at the Burrow playing games and chatting and laughing. Dom's boyfriend Gareth was there as well so I want the only non-family member. But at eight o'clock, we were rounded up and headed back to Godric's Hollow.

* * *

Lily lay fast asleep in the bed beside me but I was wide awake, and thirsty. I wrapped myself in a blanket, seeing as I was only wearing a big t-shirt, and headed downstairs. I crept down the stairs and burst into the kitchen. My foot got caught in the blanket and I tripped and smashed into the cold, hard tiles on the floor. I quickly jumped up and brushed myself off, thanking Godric that no one had seen me...

"And first prize for grace and elegance goes to Hayley" I heard the unmistakable, arrogant voice of James Potter smirk in front of me.

I growled and grumbled, pushing past him to get to the sink.

"Nice pjs too by the way" he said from behind me.

My face turned red and I pulled the t shirt down past my bum as far as they could go. I now solemnly swear to wear pants in bed. Thank godric for my knickers was all I could think.  
"What the hell is your problem Potter?" I spat at him, all the anger and frustration from the past few weeks coming up "You think you can treat people like they're absolute shit and they'll still worship the fucking ground you walk on? Well news flash you arrogant prick, they don't. They're scared of you because if you have one talent James Potter, it's making people feel like they're less than the ground you walk on." I paused for a breath at this moment and I started to calm down. James looked shocked that I was saying this to him. Well, good!

"I mean, what happened to you James. I thought we were getting somewhere. Up until that quidditch game when I kissed you-" I trailed off in sudden realisation "Are you mad because I kissed you? C'mon I didn't even mean-"

"I am NOT mad because you kissed me, okay!" He snapped at me angrily.

"Then what the hell is it?" I demanded, putting my hands on my hips.

"It- I- It's nothing, I'm sorry" he said finally hanging his head.

"Then can we please just go back to being friends?" I asked holding out my hand.

"Friends" he said taking my hand and shaking it firmly.

* * *

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Lily squealed and leaped onto my bed.

"Oof" I let out as she landed on top of me.

"Get up! Get up!" She yelled.

I threw off the covers and we sprinted downstairs. James and Al were already up and beginning to dig into the pile of presents under the tree. I was wearing my fluffy footsie pyjamas this time, no oversized t-shirts in sight, and I was all warm and cosy. Presents were being tossed to and fro and names were shouted.

Finally there was only one present left under the tree. Al dived under the tree to reach it and emerged holding it in his hand triumphantly.

"Hayley, it's yours." He said handing it over.

I took the small package from him. The paper was dark navy blue with a white ribbon tied around it. I gently untied the ribbon and opened the wrapping paper. Inside was a small velvet box. It was beautiful. I read the label to see who had given it to me.

"James? This is beautiful." I whispered.

"Just open it." He replied.

I opened the box revealing a small silver charm bracelet. There was a train charm, a wand, a broom, a lion and a tiny Hogwarts emblem.  
"James" I breathed "How much this must have cost you. It's so beautiful."

"Well, you are my friend." He smiled at me but his eyes looked sad.

"Hey James how come you never get me any cool presents like that?" Lily asked, admiring the dainty charms.

"Because you're my sister not my friend." He winked.

"Ass" Lily muttered and punched his arm.

I put on my charm bracelet and we all went upstairs to get ready for the Weasley Christmas party. It was mostly family with a few close family friends invited like the Scamanders and Longbottoms. I had bought a plain light blue dress in a muggle store. I slipped into my dress and let my curly hair fall naturally around my face. I knew by the end of the night it would probably be in a bun and I would be wearing someone else's pyjamas but I might as well start off looking nice.

When everyone was ready we flooed to the Burrow. Each room was filled to the brim with food and snacks and the dining table was extended so everyone would fit. It was piled high with every sort of food you could imagine. To my surprise some muggle Christmas music was playing softly in the background.

"Hayley!" Rose yelled from the other side of the room and scrambled through the hoards of people milling about the room. It might be a family gathering but the Weasley family was huge.

"Rose! Happy Christmas!" I said pulling her into a hug.

"You too!" She said "Come and sit with me and Emma."

We battled our way across the room and reached Emma who was chatting with Al now. Everyone knew that they both liked each other. It was completely obvious but they remained completely oblivious. It was only a matter of time until they got together.

"Happy Christmas Hayley!" Emma smiled up at me as I sat across from her at the table beside Albus.

"You too Emma" I grinned back.

"Hey kids" I heard the cheery voice of Fred say behind me.

He pulled out the chair beside me and plonked himself down beside me while James settled down beside Emma.

"You're only a year older" Rose grumbled "You have to stop calling us that."

"Nah you love it really" Fred said happily.

The dinner was incredible. Grandma Weasley had outdone herself. I was considering making her my hero and role model. I had never laughed so much in my life but by the end of the day I was exhausted. Everyone started dropping like flies, trying to find an empty bed. Of course everyone ignored Grandma Weasley's plan. I found someone's coat and wrapped it around myself before falling fast asleep on the sofa in front of the fire.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **And there it is. I know it's late and I'm sorry but I was away for a couple of days and school is hectic. Well I really hope you like it and please review and tell me what you think.**

 **Love you loads**

 **Jessica**


	12. Chapter 12

We spent the day after Christmas Day in the Potter house and we decided to go home that evening. I was feeling desperately homesick for my own bed at home. I guess I was bedsick. Mum insisted on us getting a taxi home and we arrived back late that night and we went straight to bed, falling into a deep sleep of dreams.  
I woke up late the next day and Mum was up already up and about the house. Realising that I needed bacon I shuffled downstairs and quickly threw some on the pan. We spent the day watching Christmas movies like Elf and The Polar Express while shovelling all the chocolate we could find down our throats and fell soundly asleep at 8 o'clock.

We were woken the next morning to loud bangs on the door. Mum showed no signs of getting up so I groaned and rolled out of bed and stumbled down the stairs. I unlocked the door but before I could open it someone barged in.

"Oi!" I yelled at the intruder "What the hell are- Oh." I calmed down when I saw that the intruder was actually Roxanne.

"Wha's wrong" I mumbled drowsily and rubbed the sleep dust from my eyes.

"We're going dress shopping!" She squealed and twirled around. She looked at me confused wondering why I wasn't spinning along beside her.

"Uh, what do I need a dress for?" I asked, trying to piece the puzzle together in my sleepy mind.

"For the ball you idiot!" She yelled whacking my shoulder, "Now go get some clothes on!"

She was talking about Bill and Fleur's new years eve ball. It was outside on the beach under a huge marquee. Inside was charmed to stay warm in the cold weather and the sand was spelled so that it hardened and formed a surface suitable for dancing. It was always so much fun and all the Weasley family friends were invited.  
"Alright, alright I'm going" I muttered and stumbled quickly up the stairs. I threw on the first clothes I saw and ran downstairs. I quickly scribbled a note for Mum, to tell her where I was, and left it in the bathroom.

"Tah dah!" I said jumping into the hallway.

Roxanne just wrinkled her nose at me.

"It'll do, now come on!" She said and grabbed my hand, tugging me out the door and down the street.

"Wait how are we getting to London?" I asked.

"Knight bus" she replied.

"Nooo!" I groaned dramatically "Not the knight bus, please I'll do anything!"

She just smiled at my pain and stuck out her wand. Almost immediately the bus shot around the corner. Out hopped Toby Stevens, the bus conductor.

"Morning ladies" he winked "Climb aboard"

He jumped on and felt the bus lurch as it took off again. We found two seats together and settled down.

"Skye went to visit her grandparents in Scotland today so it's just you and me." Said Roxanne as she pulled out the latest edition of the Quibbler.

"Shame, I need someone on my side when it comes to shopping with you." I said.

"Shut up you daft eejit" she smiled back.

After being thrown onto the floor of the bus several times we finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. I convinced Roxy to get some ice cream in Fortescue's before we began the long, draining day of shopping. I needed the sugar to keep going throughout the day. The first shop we went to was called Wicked Witch Designs but they were far too expensive and flouncy. Even Roxy said they were horrible. We trailed through the shops, Roxy insisted that I tried on so many dresses but none of them were quite right, according to her anyway. She bought a light pink dress for herself. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, but it wasn't too low. There was a silver belt design around the waist and then it flowed down in layers of material. It was beautiful on her. But I still had nothing to wear.

"Well, this is our last hope." Roxanne stated as we stood outside Madam Quillfits.

As soon as we entered the small boutique a plump, extravagant looking woman bustled over.

"And how may I help you ladies?" her voice boomed as she smiled reassuringly.

"We're looking for a dress for Hayley." Roxanne said pointing at me "It's for a New Years Eve Ball"

"Very good." Madam Quillfits eyes drilled into me seeming to be drinking everything up. "I have just the one for you, wait here"

She disappeared into the back of the shop and after a few minutes emerged carrying a light, blue grey dress. It was very simple, the top appeared to be strapless but had long sleeves made from a sheer material dotted with flowers. It was fitted at the waist and then fell elegantly down, it was beautiful.

"Wow" Roxy said staring at the dress "That's stunning, quick try it on"

I went into the dressing room to try on the dress. It complimented my figure really well, showing off curves I didn't even know I had. I stepped out of the room to show them the dress.

"Oh wow Hayley, that looks incredible on you!" Roxy sighed happily.

"I'll take it smiled turning to Madam Quillfit.

We paid for the dress and skipped happily out of the shop.

* * *

Finally New Years Eve arrived and Roxanne and Skye came over early so we could hang out for a while before getting ready. We watched The Grinch and snacked on popcorn and chocolate. Around one o'clock Roxanne announced it was time to get ready.

"What!" Skye said in shock "It's only one!"

"It'll take us ages to get ready" Roxy complained "Besides if something goes wrong we'll need a bit of time to fix it"

We started off with face masks and nails. Nails are one thing that Skye is really good at. Her hands always remain steady when doing intricate designs, so she did our nails. After washing off the masks we moved onto makeup. I kept mine very minimal, well as minimal as Roxy would allow. She helped both me and Skye with the harder parts and quickly checked our faces to ensure we had made no mistakes. Next came the hair. Roxy twisted mine back into a slightly messy bun and pulled out a few pieces around my face and curled them. Skye left her curls loose and they bounces around her face. Roxy left hers loose too. It was long and straight and looked lovely. So after finishing off the last few bits and pieces it was time to go.

Mum was wearing a royal blue dress and looked lovely all dolled up.

"Come on girls, we're going in the car" she said.

We didn't live too far from Shell Cottage. The car was full of excited chatter as we anticipated the night ahead.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well hello again everyone. I'm so sorry for not posting in a while but I have been so busy between school, sport and I'm involved in a musical. I've also been suffering from writers block and I'm finding it hard to get inspiration so I'm sorry that this is a bit of a filler chapter but I hope you don't all hate me.**

 **Lots of love**

 **Jessica.**


	13. Chapter 13

I took off my heels just before we got out of the car and hid them under the seat, making sure Roxanne didn't see of course. I saw Skye doing the same and gave her a wink. Thankfully my toenails were freshly painted and unchipped. I stepped onto the cold grass outside and we ran down to the beach. The sun was just setting on the sea and it was a beautiful sight. Reds, oranges and yellows streaked across the sky like brushstrokes on a painting. It was freezing so we sprinted down to the marquess.

As soon as we stepped underneath the cover we were hit by a wall of warmth.

"The kids are here James." Fred winked as he strutted over.

He grabbed my hand and spun me around. Instead of twirling elegantly like most girls, I tripped over his feet and went stumbling. I threw my arms out and grabbed onto the closest thing I could find.

"Argh!" The thing yelled.

I felt myself sliding downwards, my arms pulling something down. I hit the floor hard then I felt something land heavily on top of me.

"Ow!" I yelled trying to escape but whoever was on top of me was pushing me down in order to get up.

"Collins you clumsy idiot." I looked up to see James's bright red face trying to pull up his trousers as fast as he could.

Ah so I had grabbed James's legs on the way down and taken his pants with me. Oops. Well on the bright side he was wearing very nice underwear which really showed of his ASSets if you get me. For once my clumsiness was worth the struggle.

"Oh sorry James I didn't see you there" I said as gracefully as possible and did my best to glide away elegantly with people staring at my back as I left.

"Hayley!" I heard a cheerful voice call me.

"Al!" I said and pulled him into a tight hug.

"So what's this I hear about you wanting to get my brothers pants off?" He grinned.

"What! That's what he's been saying? Trust him to come out on top again." I grumbled.

"Oi Potter" I yelled when I spotted him across the floor.

"Yes my wee duck" he said as he strutted over preening himself.

"I did NOT want to get your pants off. I didn't think it was possible for your head to inflate anymore." I grumbled "And don't call me that."

"Hey I'm just saying what I saw" he smirked "How about you make up it up to me with a dance."

"You know I can't dance, you just want me to embarrass myself again" I said and crossed my arns defensively.

"No I'll make sure you don't fall. Come on you owe it to me" he said.

"Fine" I gave in.

I took his hand and he lead me out onto the floor. Unfortunately at that exact moment a slow waltz came on. I groaned in agony.

"Hey it's okay" he said "just stand on my feet. I won't let you fall."  
I stepped up onto his feet as gently as possible. He put his arm in the small of my back, holding me against him ensuring I didn't fall. My whole body was pressed up against his. His hand was way bigger than mine and his fingers were long and slender. He had nice hands I decided. We moved slowly to the music.

When the song ended we just kept dancing. I gently rested my head on his (muscular) chest. I could hear his heart pattering away inside. His chin rested on top of my head and we swayed to and fro to the music. We stayed like that until the music changed to a faster pace. I quickly broke away confused. What was that?

"I, uh, I have to pee" I stuttered and ran off.

I went into the little house and grabbed a blanket. I wrapped it tightly around myself and chose a quiet spot down the beach where I could just faintly hear the hum of music. My brain tried to process what had happened. James and I had danced together and it felt good. Sitting here now, all I wanted was to be with him again. I kept thinking of the way he had held me, the warmth of his hand in mine and when he smiled. Not smirked, but just smiled at me and the way it lit up his face.

Oh fuck no. My brain slowly put together the pieces of the puzzle. I had a crush on James bloody Potter.

Of course I had always thought he was good looking but he was an arrogant, pig headed asshole. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I have a crush on someone sweet and caring. We could be couple goals.

"You look troubled." I heard a soft sweet voice say gently above me.

I looked up to see Victoire, Dom's older sister. I never really spoke to her much but I always liked her. She was the most beautiful person inside and out but it was like she didn't even know it and she never made anyone feel intimidated by her, unlike Dom. Despite their similar, Veela looks they couldn't be more different.

"I'm just confused I guess. It wasn't supposed to happen like this." I said.

"What wasn't?" She asked gently.

"Oh you don't want to hear all my problems" I said.

"On the contrary, I think that's exactly what I need" she said and settled herself down beside me "I'm having a bit of a rough day myself and I could use a distraction."

"Well I think I may have developed... feelings for someone I shouldn't have" I murmured quietly.

"James?" She asked.

"How did you know? Is it obvious?" I asked loudly, panic rising. James couldn't know.

"Not at all, I'm just quite observant. Why would that be a problem?" She asked "Surely it's a good thing. I'm sure James likes you too. He has been acting a little differently lately."

"James is not exactly what I would call boyfriend material. He's not good for me. I'd just be another name to add to his endless list of girlfriends that he hasn't cared for a bit." I said hanging my head.

"I disagree" Victoire said firmly "I've never seen him act like he does with you with any other girl. You're his friend. You have to be pretty special to be James's friend. I've always thought that. But he's been acting weird lately. Kind of mopey. Him and Fred have more whispered conversations at family gatherings. Ones that you attend. Believe me Hayley you're not nor will ever be, a name on a list to him. I saw you dancing just now. He looked so content and happy. Happier than he has in awhile anyways."

I shrugged my shoulders, unsure how to respond. It was completely impossible for him to like me. It would be one of those completely impossible love stories. Girl makes a player fall in love with her and they live happily ever after. Impossible.

"I better get back" Victoire said and stood up "Don't worry Hayley. It'll work out."

"Thanks Victoire" I replied and she walked back towards the party.

Well I had gotten myself into a right mess.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey everyone. Sorry for not posting sooner but things are getting so busy I don't even know why but oh well. My WiFi went down today so that kind of inspired me to write which is good I suppose. Just to let you all know, I will never stop a story without telling you so even if I don't update for months I will be back someday. I love my stories even though I'm finding it hard to write. Hence the short chapters. Also, I have just gotten into Twenty One Pilots and I don't know how I haven't listened to them before. They are incredible and I'm obsessed already. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter and i'll see you soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

I did my best to avoid James after the party which wasn't hard. Until it was time to go back to school. Oh the horror.

I've never been one for opening up to people easily so the only people who knew I fancied James were Victoire and myself of course. I had to keep it on the down low. That meant not developing a soft spot for James. Operation Piglet. I like pigs.

Life continued as usual at Hogwarts. Lots of homework, preparation for OWLs, quidditch practice and lots of food. There was one slight difference. The fact that my face went tomato red every time James talked to me, looked at me or was in the same room as me. Fabulous. So I made it my mission to stay away from him to avoid unnecessary embarrassment.

"Hello Hayley" I heard Fred say from above me as I leapt into the air. I thought I was alone.

"Fred, what a surprise" I replied shakily. He was wearing a knowing look and staring at me intently. Oh shit he knew something.

"So I was wondering if we could have a little chat, just the two of us."

"Yeah... Uh sure"

"Something's up with you. You keep turning red, zoning out of conversations and you just can't concentrate. Anything you'd like to tell me?" Fred asked.

"I don- there's nothing- I mean, I have nothing to hide" I stuttered. Oh wow, nice going Hayley. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"Are you sure?" he repeated.

"Completely" I replied, opting for the stare down.

"Well then. I'll see you around." And he was gone.

I let out all the air I had been holding in. He definitely suspected something. Who knew Fred was so perceptive. Not me, that's for sure.

I headed back to the dorm. I had had enough of the damn OWLs.

I curled up in my bed wrapping the blankets completely around myself until I was nothing more than a caterpillar in a cocoon. I fell into a deep and blissful sleep.

* * *

"HAYLEY GET UP!" A loud, piercing voice screamed in my ear.

"Nooooo!" I yelped "You can't make me!"

"Hayley, the Gryffindor Hufflepuff match is in half an hour. Get up!" Rose was attempting to tip me out of my bed but she was getting nowhere, thanks to my healthy diet of chocolate and bacon.

"SHIT!" I yelled and exploded from my blanket like the butterfly I was. I leaped of the bed to fly away but my foot got caught and I plummeted to the floor. Not very like a butterfly. I had completely forgotten about the match.

I threw on my gear and sprinted down to the changing rooms. I burst through the door breathing heavily.

"Well look who decided to show up" James remarked.

"Apologies team I got so engrossed in my pre-match preparations that I lost track of time" I replied with as much dignity I could muster.

"Wait sleeping is your pre-match preparation?" James asked mockingly.

I just fixed him with a glare because if he kept talking I was in danger of snogging him and we couldn't have that.

"Enough!" Craig yelled "We have more important things to worry about. Now Hufflepuff isn't known for being particularly good at Quidditch but that does not mean we can sit back and relax. We have to put just as much into this game as any other game. We will not lose and we will be having a celebration party tonight!"

Shouts and cheers of approval came from the whole team. He was right, we could do this.

I could hear the roar of the crowd and I smiled to myself. This is where I belonged. The quaffle was tossed high in the air and the whole field seemed to slow down and the noise dimmed. I reached my hands out to grab the quaffle and we were off.

I immediately sped down the field towards the Hufflepuff hoops. I saw one of their chasers come into block me so I tossed it right, to Skye who then scored.

The match continued until it was 90-40 to Gryffindor. James was still circling the field but there was still no sign of the snitch.

Just then, James went into a steep dive for the ground. Hufflepuff's seeker saw and followed but his broom was just not as fast. James was plummeting for the ground and I felt my heart drop. He wasn't going to make it.

"Pull up James!" I shouted in terror, panic rising.

Just at the last minute he pulled up his broom just skimming across the ground and I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"And James Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor Wins!" Came the voice over the loudspeaker.

I jumped off my broom and ran over to where James was standing.

"You fucking retard!" I yelled "You could have died. That was a stupid reckless dive!"

"Well I caught the snitch didn't I?" he replied confused at my sudden outburst.

"Well that's not worth your bloody life James!" I shouted, my voice getting higher and higher by the minute.

"Didn't think you cared that much, Collins" he said smirking.

"Don't smirk at me James Potter! I would have been just as worried if it had been anyone else on the team!"

"Probably more concerned for them" he muttered

"What, you don't think I care about you? Of course I do Potter! Don't make yourself into the victim!"

By now we had attracted quite the crowd.

"Well you don't show it! I don't think you'd bat an eyelid if anything happened"

"Oh for fuck sake James" I said and grabbed his face and kissed him.

He froze for a split second before wrapping his arms around me and pulled me in closer and my hands dropped to rest on his chest. He pushed his lips closer to mine like it wasn't enough. He opened his lips slowly with mine following and his tongue slid inside. Time seemed to stand still and I was deaf to everything around us. There was only him. I always worried about what I would do when I was kissing someone but my instincts just took over and I didn't even have to think about it.

All too soon I felt myself being yanked backwards. There were cheers and catcalls all around us. Professor Pritchett stood there glowering at us.

"Not acceptable behaviour for the field Ms Collins, Mr Potter"

"Oh let them off Pritchett!" Professor Longbottom laughed.

James was busy bowing to the crowd. So I rolled my eyes and pushed through the hordes of people and made my way back up to the changing rooms.

"Oi Collins! Where are you off to? I don't believe I was finished" James' hands wrapped around my waist.

"I think I'll decide when we're done Potter" I snorted.

"Ah but you can't resist my charms" he winked.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself. That was a lapse of judgement James. I'm not about to become another name on your long list of girlfriends." I shrugged his arms away and cursed myself for being so stupid.

"Hayley, you were never just a name on a list to me. Please don't kiss me and leave. I couldn't handle that."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Did he mean it?

"Do you mean it James, because I'm not playing here. I really like you."

"I promise. I really like you too Hayley" he said softly.

We had reached the changing rooms by now.

"Good" I said and turned around and threw my arms around him.

He kissed me even more intensely and Merlin's beard was he good. We stayed behind the changing rooms for ages. Not bothering to join the party.

"What does this make us?" I demanded, pulling away.

"My girlfriend" he grinned.

"Well I'll be expecting lots of presents then" I smiled "Preferably chocolates"

"You'll be the most spoiled girlfriend ever"

I slipped my hand in his and we walked side by side back up to the Castle.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well that's it. I'm planning on doing one more chapter. An extra short epilogue. Well anyway please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Thanks for reading!**


	15. Epilogue

I stood in the kitchen. The evening sunlight poured in the window and when I looked out and I could see my world, my family.

Little Jamie toddled around after Emma on his little two year old legs. It was hard to believe she was going off to Hogwarts in September. The time flew by. Out of nowhere Alex jumped out from behind the old oak tree and squirted them with a muggle water gun. Jamie's pudgy legs gave way and fell back into a muddy puddle laughing. Emma squealed and ran away from the water with Alex chasing after her shooting jets of water. Alex was like an eight year old version of James. I couldn't help but laugh along with them.

Just then I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist and a kiss was planted on my cheek.

"I wouldn't change anything for the world" James murmured in my ear.

I smiled. I had gotten everything I wanted. A life full of love and happiness.

"You know, there are a couple of water guns in the shed" he smirked.

"Lets get them" I laughed and ran after him to join our children.

* * *

 **And that's all folks! A tiny epilogue I know but I didn't want a long one and I think this says everything. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed. Knowing that someone liked my story has made me tremendously happy. I might not be publishing a new story for a long time because I am busy with school and other stuff but keep a look out. Please review and tell me what you think and if that wasn't enough then you can pm me and I'll make something up for you.**

 **Love you loads**

 **Jessica**


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